Gut Check!

Gut Check!
By Dave Quevedo

A question I get all the time from my clients is "Is it ok for me to train on an empty stomach?" And my response is always NO! It's impossible for the body to burn fat on an empty stomach! By the end of your workout, you'll and feel exhausted and perhaps sick from working extra hard to make up for the lack of fuel you had during your workout. It's simple really, you can't drive a car on fumes; you need a full tank to get you where you want to go. The body works the same way.

At one point, it became the hip thing to do and people followed this mistaken advice. Now research shows that the calories you burn on an empty stomach are much less than if you eat beforehand. But, gorging on a huge meal prior to a workout isn't the answer either. Instead gym-goers should eat a small meal of 200-300 calories with an appropriate mix of protein, carbs and fat either in solid food or liquid form (protein drink). A snack like this raises your metabolic rate, prevents your blood glucose level from dropping, and provides a better fat burning/muscle building response.

According the American College of Sports Medicine, to perform physically strenuous activity your body needs glucose to support proper muscle function. Glucose is actually converted amino acids which we get from food. Exercising on an empty stomach, deprives your body of glucose which causes you to feel sluggish during workouts and leads to decreased performance. Lack of food also results in the body's inability to recruit amino acids. Converted amino acid (aka glucose) supplies the body with the energy you'll need to train harder and see results.

Typically we exercise in the early morning to kick start to our day or at night to conclude our day. Early birds have the advantage of having the rest of the day to eat, and recover the muscles, thus seeing results. If you're a night owl, don't worry; exercising later in the day is productive and beneficial as well. You're still improving lean muscle mass, burning fat, and working to combat unhealthy eating. Whatever your situation, you should eat at least 30 minutes before your workout to initialize your metabolism, the body's natural fat burning furnace.

If you still question whether or not to eat before a workout, remember the body is like any other living thing; you need to feed it to see it grow. You may feel like consuming calories beforehand cancels out the exercise, but in fact it enables your body to better manage your workout both physically and mentally. You will feel stronger during your training and maximize your gym time.

Dave Quevedo NASM CPT PES

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